


As Seen By

by taelynhawker



Category: Schitt’s Creek
Genre: M/M, outside pov
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-17
Updated: 2019-01-17
Packaged: 2019-10-06 00:28:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,314
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17335256
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/taelynhawker/pseuds/taelynhawker
Summary: David And Patrick through the eyes of others.





	As Seen By

Moira does not have a favorite. She will go to her grave denying that she does. It’s not that David is her favorite. It’s just that David is so much like her. She knows she isn’t... easy to deal with. Or handle. Or love. She knows she’s lucky she found John, who loves her no matter what situation arises. Who understands her when she can’t understand herself.

Before their exile into poverty she’d been peripherally aware of David’s failed forays into romance. It was hard not to be when a broken heart was often met with David walling himself away in his room with sad music or period romances playing far more loudly than was necessary.

But now, well, she’s much more involved now. And she finds she enjoys it. She also finds herself worrying. And it’s not that she doesn’t worry about Alexis. She does. She just relates to David more easily.

And she knows she’s watching him fall in love. The soul deep, heart wrenching, cloud nine kind of love. Not because she’s seen him like this before, she’s never seen him like this, but because she’s seen herself like this before. She’d felt this with John, she still does. And so she knows the way David looks at Patrick. But it hits her hardest now, watching as Patrick so endearingly serenades her son. She watches David’s face break and soften, the insecure joy that lights up his features. As if he’s not really sure this is for him. No. As if he’s not sure he deserves it.

It hurts her. David is wonderful. Look what he’s done with this store, with his life. Look at who he is, who he has become. Of course he deserves this.

She touches his arm, her own cheeks wet with tears. And this is not a common feeling. This joy in her heart for someone else. David is in love. And when Moira looks at Patrick she wonders if for once he is loved in return. She finds herself hoping with all she has that he is. That this Patrick will see her son, all of the wonderful parts and the troublesome bits, and want to keep him.

She thinks maybe he will. Because if David is so much like her, she finds herself very reminded of John whenever she catches the way Patrick smiles at her son.

—

David is her best friend. The only one she’s ever really had. She’s never going to admit this truth again, their night at the spa is the only moment of truth either of them need. They’re both pathetic but at least they have each other.

Stevie is okay with that.

If she was honest she did have that little twist of- it was not jealousy- worry when Patrick started to show his interest. But he fit so easily into her dynamic with David that it was like he’d been there all along. He’s not so staunchly supportive of David that he won’t call him on his shit but he also understands him, does that whole... sensitive caring thing. David has confidence about so many things that whenever he loses it it’s a hard drop. It’s painful to watch.

Stevie’s not saying she worries, she’s just saying that it’s good that Patrick does.

Which makes this break up annoying and frustrating. Even if she’s sure it’s temporary. She’s spoken to Patrick but only briefly. It’s not exactly taking sides it’s just... David really is her best friend. And he’s hurting in a way she actually hasn’t seen before. He’s dramatic and ridiculous of course but in some ways that’s just to mask how deep it goes.

She doesn’t believe David is really going to finally make up with Patrick and she doesn’t actually think it has to do with the gifts. Even though David obviously isn’t complaining about them. She’s knows his history, she knows that no one has ever done this for him. Tried to win him back.

When she doesn’t hear from him by eight in the evening- after a week of practically non stop texts whenever she wasn’t actually in his company- she takes a totally casual stroll by the store. They should be closed. Normally closing involves wine and spending time winding down, whether it’s the three of them or just David and Patrick and sometimes just her and one of them.

They aren’t drinking wine. But they are closed. There’s a chair in the middle of the floor near the back and Patrick is in it, with David in his lap. She’s not really one for watching people’s public displays of affection, but she can’t move for a minute.

Because their foreheads are pressed together and Patrick is running his hands through David’s hair and then down his shoulder. And David’s hands are fisted in the shoulders of Patrick’s shirt. David’s head drops to Patrick’s shoulder and Patrick wraps his arms around David, holding him tight.

When David finally lifts his head she can see how wet his eyes are. How desperate his fingers are as they catch Patrick’s face and how fiercely he kisses him- and that, that is definitely her cue to go. She does not need to see the rest of this show.

At least she knows she’ll have a night of peace.

—

“David? David!”

“Patrick!”

David pushes past John, one hand covering his face, the other waving frantically at Patrick. Whether to ward him off or grasp at him, John isn’t sure.

“I told you you didn’t have to come back,” David is saying, trying to keep his voice down and keeping one hand over his face.

“Yeah well, you also told me to get you a Phantom of the Opera mask on the way back,” Patrick says, reaching for David’s hand and getting swatted for his trouble. “Of course I was coming back, David.”

“Stop trying to look at it! It’s awful! I’m monstrous!”

“What did the vendor say? Should we be taking you to the hospital? Is it- is it a chemical burn?”

John is fairly certain Patrick hasn’t noticed him and David, for the moment seems to have forgotten he’s there at all. But the mention of the vendor has him considering the back door. David, like his mother, often feels wronged even when they haven’t been. But when they have truly been wronged? John has often felt at the brink of madness between the two.

“It’s not the lotion,” David says darkly. “It’s poison something. Ivy. Or oak.”

Patrick visibly relaxes. He wraps a hand around David’s wrist and pulls his hand from his face. The look he gives David is exceptionally fond and slightly frustrated. John recognizes the face. He knows he often wears the same with Moira. It hits him suddenly that perhaps Moira is right. That this is the relationship for David. The one.

John realizes in that moment that he never imagined that for David. Never imagined him finding one person and staying with them. Settling down. But he and Patrick already own their business together. They’ve had a bump in the road and come out the other side.

“Because my father-“

John is pulled from his reverie by David’s accusing tone. He draws his chin up, defiant but unconcerned. Patrick is sort of laughing, trying not to.

“You’re the one who sniffed the flower,” John says, moving past them, heading for the door. “You, uh, you should be more careful son. Pleasure to see you, Pat.” 

“We are not doing-“

He’s out the door before he can hear the rest of David’s outraged reply. When he chances a look back Patrick is holding David’s face in his hand and not quite touching the rash, examining it.

“Huh,” he breathes out, not thinking about lotions anymore. Not really. Just thinking about his son. And how much this town has changed him. How much for the better.

  
—

Ray was supposed to have been gone all weekend. But apparently renting a house on the craigslist is just asking to be swindled. The place had been abandoned and falling apart. He huffed just thinking about it.

And so it’s after a long drive home that he enters his house to find it in alarming disarray. 

The kitchen still has dishes in the sink, there’s a mostly finished bottle of wine on the table, and candles still burning. There’s also a half drunk cup of tea in a to-go cup. Which Ray finds the strangest of all. He picks it up and swishes it around, sniffs it, recognizes it as Patrick’s usual order. 

But the house is very quiet and he wonders if something caused Patrick to leave suddenly?

Despite his curiosity he’s far too tired to worry about it now. He blows out the candles and leaves the kitchen, making his way to the stairs. He’s lived here a long time, he doesn’t bother with the lights, they’d just irritate his eyes anyway right now. It isn’t until he hits the top of the stairs that he hears it.

Soft music playing from Patrick’s room, flickering candlelight coming from there too.

Oh dear, he certainly hopes David and Patrick haven’t had another tiff. Patrick had been practically manic last time. Ray isn’t sure he’s prepared for another go with it. 

As he passes he peers in, fully willing to be a shoulder if Patrick needs one and finds himself seeing far more than he ever needs or wants to of both Patrick and David. 

The sheet at least covers... most... of their bottom halves. David is on his stomach, Patrick laying over top of him. They’re holding hands, their fingers twined. The fingers of Patricks free hand are dancing across David’s bare shoulders and down his arm, lips following. David’s eyes are closed but he’s smiling. 

“Worth the wait,” David murmurs as Ray tries to figure it the quietest way past the room. 

“You are,” Patrick whispers back, and David’s scoffs affectionately. “I love you, David.” 

David turns, rolls, and they move together until Patrick is caught between David’s raised knees. He looks likes he’s struggling with something but his hands are grasping at Patrick, pulling him closer.

”You don’t have to say it again,” Patrick says earnestly. 

“I want to,” David replies. “I want to be able to tell you all the time.”

”You’ll get there,” Patrick tells him. 

David sniffs and nods, pulls Patrick in close to kiss him. “I will, I promise I will,” he says against Patrick’s lips and then kisses him deeper-

And Ray decides there is no quiet way past the room. Best to retreat. He carefully makes his way back down the stairs. He contemplates just sleeping on the couch but he doesn’t want to be there to spoil their morning. Instead he goes back out to his car. Perhaps there’s room at the motel.

—

Outside of that moment in the his office- and the awkward lunch with Heather that Ted desperately wants to forget- Ted hasn’t really spent much time with David. Not that he doesn’t like David just fine, it’s just... it just hasn’t happened. And Ted really only knows Patrick because he lives with Ray and Ted knows Ray, everyone knows Ray.

And of course he knows what Alexis tells him but she is David’s sister so some times he has to take what she says with a grain of salt. David and Alexis can definitely be... contentious... with one another. Like the other day when she says she practically walked in on David and Patrick naked and dry humping- as she had put it- Ted thinks they were probably actually mostly dressed and making out or something. He thinks. 

So tonight is really the first time he’s getting to actually see them. Together. And the truth is that what his mind keeps going back to is David in his office. Saying he’d been burned so many times he was a roasted marshmallow. Talking about how sometimes it just works out. Ted was pretty sure before, but definitely knows now, that David was talking about Patrick. 

He’s pretty sure he’s never seen any two people so in love- except of course for him and Alexis- and he’s certainly never seen David so very... soft. Warm. The way he smiles at Patrick even when the other man isn’t looking at him. The way he reaches for him every time Patrick walks past him as they fix the decorations. Like he can’t stop himself.

Ted reaches out, catches Alexis by the waist and pulls her to him. She’s laughing, probably has had a least a few glasses of Jocelyn’s very strong eggnog, and god, he loves her. He’s only peripherally aware of the fact that across the room Patrick has simmilarly caught David. He seems to be trying to steal a sip of David’s drink however and Ted is pretty sure he’s hearing the words... sloppy mouth?

He doesn’t want to know.

”I promise we just need to stay for like another hour. Maybe less. We could sneak out a window?”

Ted shakes his head, smiling, holding her tighter. “We’re good,” he promises her. “No rush.”

She smiles at him so brightly his heart skips a beat. She spins away from him and crosses the room to her brother. David and Patrick are trading soft kisses, holding each other tightly. David’s hands are moving over Patricks arms, like he can’t stop touching him. They don’t seem at all concerned with the fact that they aren’t alone. 

“Oh my god, David,” Alexis is exclaiming. “Get a room!”

”Fun fact,” David snips back, gesturing around them with one hand. “This whole party is happening half in my room, so even if I wanted to get a room I couldn’t.”

Patrick catches Ted watching them all and grins, shaking his head. Ted smiles, shrugging a shoulder. He gets it.

 

 

 


End file.
